February in Pictures

Our dogs really love each other.  This is how they sleep 99% of the time.

These,  my friends, are gluten free, egg free, dairy free pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  They were fluffy, moist, they rose, and they even tasted good, something that has been a difficult combination to achieve this past month and a half.  Even our non GFCFEF neighbor kids loved them.

At our elementary the second grade presents puppet shows.  There are four classes with each class doing 3-4 shows.  It's a lot of puppets.  And they have 5 performances.  When you have a lively child like BoyTwo and a anxious child like Three, you get to be to all five performances.  I was able to multitask a little (okay, a lot) and decorate the gym for something else when it wasn't their exact turn.  These pictures are of the cast introducing themselves before they take stage.  Three is Chicken Little.  BoyTwo is a pig from the Gingerbread Man.  I'm pleased to say there were no inappropriate things said into the microphone, no microphones were thrown, and no little piggies went running wee wee wee all the way off the stage.  Phew.  In the hallway after one performance, the pig did have a little run in with another animal, as in he literally and purposely ran into and over the poor guy, and lost his snout which was later surgically replaced with hot glue once reparations were made and privileges earned back.

He assured both his teacher and I that it wasn't supposed to be a 'real fight, just a fun fight.'  

Four's kindergarten class filled their marble jar and voted on a superhero party.  Rules were that you had to invent your superhero to portray special abilities/talents you had.  So there you go.  Cheer You Up Cheetah Girl.  She makes me so happy.

Not sure why these pictures were split up.  Oh well.  This is an intense game of Blind Tickle Monster.  The kids sit in a circle around Huz who counts to ten and then tickles someone.  They aren't allowed to open their eyes or else they are disqualified.  Here they were waiting with such intense anticipation that I was laughing out loud.

Four loves animals.  She would really love to be a cheetah.  Or a horse.  Or a cat.  Or dog.  You get the picture.  She would love to wear this little get up 24/7.

Oh!  Looks like Two was the one caught by the tickle monster :)

Gearin' Up

We've been doing our elimination diet with peanuts.  I let Three choose because it gave her a sense of control and helped her to be more on board, so to speak.  Of course this is my theory...  It seems to have worked.  At least her being on board.  What isn't working is going without peanuts.  We've been doing without just fine, but she is still sick.  My neighbor pointed out to me, 'How can you tell how affected she is by peanuts if she is still eating wheat and eggs?'  Hmmm.  Good point.  That being said, I don't really want to get rid of wheat, eggs, peanuts and dairy for an entire month.  

For the past couple of weeks, I've been s-l-o-w-l-y gearing up for our 'big month'.  I decided that for our family, in order to make this work, I would need to have an entire month of meals planned.  As in breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and treats.  Dishes that were already 'approved' by the tastebuds of those (or the majority of those-let's be realistic) who would be eating them.  During this 'gearing up' phase, I've tried a couple new recipes (i.e.  GFCF egg free pancakes.  Who would've ever known that this was a possibility.  Not I!!  Not only were they edible, they tasted more like a crepe, oddly enough as they were lacking eggs, but had the appearance of a fluffy pancake), tweaked a couple of my own recipes (had to buy GF oats vs. regular oats), and wondered if this was really all necessary and if I was going to be capable of making this happen.

After watching my kids miss out on activities they enjoy because of stomach aches, being asked how they got black eyes (they get deep, dark bags under their eyes when they aren't well.  These went away for a couple of months after going CF, but have been on the comeback), and realizing that our stomach's hurt way more than they should (after eating the GFCF egg free pancakes, the girls each told me that their stomach's didn't hurt.  I also noticed this!  My stomach and theirs always hurts after eating pancakes/waffles/french toast, and many other foods.  I thought everyone's did and that it was because of all the sugary syrup. Evidently, this is not the case and we were pleasantly surprised that we didn't hurt after eating!), and of course, prayer, I think I'm almost ready.  I'm going to have to be way more organized and plan way ahead (something that has gone to the way side since bringing the boys'-namely BoyTwo-home). 

I'll let you know how it goes.

Funny story:

BoyOne: 'mom!  I need ten slushies for school tomorrow and I have only six.'

me, wondering how he is suddenly in some food type of class: 'slushies?!' 

BoyOne: 'come help me!'

I walked into the kitchen where he sat at the computer preparing a SLIDE SHOW (power point, actually), not a slushy.  hahahahaha

BoyOne is working on a project on a greek goddess, who happens to be a virgin.  This is specifically mentioned in her bio.

BoyOne: 'What is this word 'virgin'?'

me: 'it means that she hasn't had sex.'  it's best to be blunt so that he understands.

One, as she quickly walks over to me: 'Have you had 'the talk' with him already?!'  haha.  I am often asked how One handled being dethroned from being the eldest in the family.  She's handled it just fine because while she is not the oldest chronologically, she is still the oldest.  And they get along really well.  They had a rough first few months, but after we dealt with that one head on, things have been great.  They are good buddies and we love spending time with them after the littles have all gone to bed.

Example.  The other day when I left the kids alone (littles in bed) to meet some friends for dinner:

BoyOne: 'One, can I have drink?'

One: 'Sure!'

BoyOne: 'One, I play game?'

One: 'Sure!'

BoyOne: 'One, I so big tired.  I go to bed?'

One: 'Sure!'

but then she calls me because now she's the only one awake in the house and she's 'freaking herself out'.  Her words, not mine:)

Love that kid.  He's such a blessing.  All of them are.

Tomorrow is BoyTwo's IEP meeting.  An IEP is an individual education plan in which specific accommodations are listed to enhance the qualified students 'free and appropriate public education', aka FAPE.  It is a legally binding document that requires the school that the child is attending to comply to the accommodations.  I mention the legal aspect of things only because that saved us two and a half years ago when we moved up here.  I'm excited.  I am really hoping that this is a good thing for him.  Speaking of BoyTwo, in my head, I'm planning a post about all of the progress he's made in the past 16 months and the things that we've done in our home that have really helped him and us.  And I'll get right on that as soon as I can get the 'month of meals' finalized:)

stay tuned... 

Cabbage Rolls AKA Holubtsi

When we were in the early stages of adoption, I had grand plans to carry on their Ukrainian heritage, to regularly make Ukrainian meals, to celebrate the holidays and customs the boys were familiar with.

Then we got home and the beautiful music came to a screeching halt as I realized the boys had not experienced much of Ukraine at all!  In fact, during my time in their country, I sampled more 'Ukrainian cuisine' than they were familiar with.  

Holidays?  Yeah, right.  This made me sad.  Searching the web for traditions and foods didn't produce any finds that the boys were familiar with.  I grilled them for information about how they spent their holidays asking questions about anything that they could remember in hopes that I could incorporate these things into our lives now.   There was nothing.  I should have realized this before, how many happy family memories are there going to be for them to draw from, really?  I was naive for expecting this.

Then as Easter was approaching, I got all gung-ho again and tried to make paska.  The one time I DID make something Ukrainian I made the wrong version (although I had pulled up several pictures to show to the boys prior to making it to be certain it was the right one).  It was a lot of work and honestly not that great, so I was content to, once again, let it go.  Truthfully, the boys seem hardly interested, so this was an easy decision.

Fast forward to about a month ago.   I decided that, as their mother, I should make more of an effort to introduce them to their country, to teach them about where they came from, as best as my American self could.  I believe that some day they will want to know more about their country of origin and I don't want them thinking that I kept it from them or don't want them to have an association with it, because I do if they do.  And I really hope they do.

For a few nights from 1-4 when I should have been sleeping but couldn't, I took a break from researching CAPD and FASD and looked up some recipes.  I decided to start with something easy.  Easy to make, easy to introduce the fam to.  These little cabbage rolls were my experiment.  I chose them because it kind of sounded like yummy meatloaf, which is pretty close to American.  I didn't find any one recipe to use, instead I combined a whole bunch and hoped it would work out.  It did and we will have these again.  I'd love to share the recipe, but I'm not always the greatest about following recipes or about writing down any changes that I make.  I also tend to not use measuring devices except for a one cup scoop.  I estimate all other quantities, if I must at all, in that puppy.  BUT, I did remember to take some pretty pictures:)  One helped me make these and we had fun doing it.  

End result?  Pretty good.  It's what I would describe as a comfort food.  BoyOne remembered having eaten these when he was younger.  In fact, when he saw them, he pointed out the cabbage, and in his best grandma voice said, 'Eat zis, Danichka.  It lots of veetameens,' and told us his babushka used to say this to him.  hahaha

Best Guess at a Recipe

the meat mixture

1 lb ground turkey

1 lb ground pork

some minced garlic

chopped onion

salt, pepper, onion salt, stuff like that

a couple eggs

Mix it all together.  I meant to saute the onions and garlic but totally forgot but it didn't matter.

Cook some brown rice, but not all the way through.  I think I did the equivalent of four servings.

Mix meat mixture and rice and throw in some tomato soup or juice or sauce.  I can't remember which I used, but I don't think it really matters too much.

Plop a head of cabbage in water.  Bring to a boil.  One at a time, grab a leaf with your fingers (be careful the water is hot:)) and fill with meat mixture.  Place in greased cast iron pot (I have an indoor dutch oven that I used, but anything would probably work), seam side down.  Repeat until all cabbage leaves have been used.  

Pour crushed or dices tomatoes over the top, along with tomato soup and tomato juice.  I actually remember doing this about half way through and then again at the end.

Bake at 400 for 1/2 hour and then 350 for another 1 1/2 hours.

 the cabbage

 the meat

 placing the meat in the leaf.  I found a couple resources that talked about how to roll it.  It suggested that you roll it like a cone and then stuff the top into itself .  It worked out really well.

 the bottom is the pointy part of the cone and so nothing is falling out.  the top was the wide part which I stuffed into itself after rolling.

the end

p.s.  it makes a lot and tastes pretty good as left overs

a couple of the resources I remember: natashaskitchen(dot)com, followingclosely(dot)blogspot(dot)com, and learnpysanky(dot)com